Those skilled in the art understand that a System on Chip (SoC) combines the components of a complex computing or electronic system on a single integrated circuit. The included components of the system comprise both hardware components and software components. Hardware components include: timers, power supplies and regulators, input/output interfaces (analog and digital), microprocessors (or microcontrollers) and volatile/non-volatile memories. Software components include: an operating system, applications and drivers. A block diagram of an exemplary SoC 10 is provided in FIG. 1.
It is common, over the course of the operating life of an SoC, for an update of the SoC software components to occur. A new version of an algorithm may be provided to replace an existing version of the algorithm. Such a new version may fix problems with the existing version (such as “bugs”), present a more efficient implementation of functionality supported by the existing version, or add new functionality to that provided by the existing version. Validation of the new version of the algorithm is important to ensure that the new version can be used in place of the existing version without adversely affecting operation of the SoC. If validation is confirmed, the existing version may be deleted and the new version thereafter executed in its place.